On the basis of weekly or yearly earnings, the trade
makes a better showing. Work is steady throughout
the year, and the time lost through unemployment on
account of seasonal changes is slight. Also, as
the usual working day is from nine to 10 hours, that
is, from one to two hours longer than in the higher
paid building trades, the difference in daily wages
is really less marked than a comparison of hourly rates
would seem to indicate.

Little attempt has been made to adapt the apprentice
system to modern conditions. The term of service
and rates of pay have changed but slightly over a
long period of years. As a result only a small
proportion of the boys who begin as apprentices finish
the apprenticeship term of three or four years.
Employers attribute this to the relatively high wages
paid for machine operating, and the slight advantage,
from a wage standpoint, of the “all-round”
man over the machine operator. After a year or
two the apprentice finds that he can double his pay
by taking a job as operator, and the inducement for
learning the trade thoroughly is too small to hold
him. The report gives a comparison of the earnings
of an apprentice and a machine operator, both starting
at the same age, the first becoming a journeyman machinist
at the end of three years and the second specializing
on a particular machine. Assuming that both boys
go to work at the age of 16 their total earnings up
to the age of 25 years will be approximately equal.
The lack of thoroughly trained workmen is beginning
to be felt, but the efforts made by industrial establishments
to meet it have small prospects of success unless the
economic factors of the problem are given greater consideration.